Homemade Candy Apples
The candy apple is the fairground treat of half the world: the kermesse apple in Argentina, the Liebesapfel at German fairs, and the toffee apple for Halloween in the Anglo-Saxon world. It is a firm, tart apple, skewered on a stick and dipped in a caramel that hardens like thin glass and cracks when bitten. It has two secrets: removing the wax from the peel, which is what makes the caramel slide off, and bringing the syrup to the hard-crack stage. The intense fairground red is food coloring and is optional here: without it, the caramel remains amber and looks just as nice.
Ingredients
- 6 small, firm, and tart apples (green or red)
- 6 thick wooden skewers or popsicle sticks
- 400 g sugar
- 120 ml water
- 120 g light corn syrup
- Optional: red gel food coloring
Method
- 1
Wash the apples with very hot water and rub them with a kitchen towel (dish towel): this removes the wax layer from the peel. This is the step that is skipped the most and the one that matters most, because the caramel slides off and peels away on top of the wax. Dry them very well.
- 2
Remove the stems and insert a stick into each one, halfway through. Prepare a baking sheet (tray) with greased parchment paper.
- 3
In a small, heavy-bottomed pot (skillet), put the sugar, water, and glucose. Stir over medium heat only until the sugar dissolves, and from then on, do not stir anymore. Stirring boiling syrup makes it crystallize, and the glucose is there for the same reason: it prevents the sugar from forming crystals again. If crystals stick to the sides, brush them down with a wet brush (more on the technique).
- 4
Cook without stirring until 150 °C, the hard-crack stage. Without a thermometer: a drop in a glass of cold water must harden instantly and crack, not remain soft. If you use food coloring, add it when the syrup reaches 140 °C and move the pot to distribute it. Without coloring, you can let it reach a light amber, with a caramel flavor.
- 5
Remove from the heat and wait a few seconds for the bubbles to stop. Tilt the pot and rotate each apple inside the caramel until covered, let the excess drip off, and place it on the baking sheet with the stick facing up. Work quickly and carefully: the caramel at that temperature burns, and it is better for children to watch from a distance.
- 6
If the caramel thickens before finishing, return it to low heat for a few seconds.
- 7
Leave them for 20 minutes until the caramel is hard. They should be eaten on the same day: with ambient humidity, and even more so in the refrigerator, the caramel becomes sticky.